<\/p>\n
Once Esther took to heart Mordecai\u2019s words of reason she realized her rise to royalty had nothing to do with her beauty or God granting her a comfortable life. Instinctively Esther knew to turn to God for her strength. She replied, \u201cGo, gather all the Jews\u2026and hold a fast on my behalf\u2026I and my young women will do the same<\/em>\u201d (Esther 4:15-16).<\/p>\n Rather than jumping into action, Esther spent time in\u00a0prayer, fasting, and waiting for God to direct how and when to approach the king. Unbeknownst to her as Esther and Mordecai prayed, God was at work on the king when one night he couldn\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n God used the king\u2019s sleeplessness to cause him to call for the chronicles to be read. In this reading the king was reminded of Mordecai\u2019s hand in saving his life. Which launched the king toward events that would honor Mordecai and pronounce an edict that allowed the Jews to protect themselves from annihilation.<\/p>\n Waiting on God\u2019s timing is often difficult but His timing is always perfect. Esther\u2019s story reminds us to watch, pray and trust that God is at work even in causing sleepless nights to those for whom we pray. Doesn\u2019t knowing how God sovereignly works according to His timetable give you a sense of trust in His providence and provision?<\/p>\n \u201cIf I die I die\u201d (Esther 4:16). Esther couldn\u2019t have known how her powerful words of surrender would resonate down through the ages. Her love for God and for her people took precedence \u00a0over her love for her own life.<\/p>\n When my children\u2019s pastor spoke those notorious words my heart beat hard in my chest as I pondered, Would I have the courage to say those words should God call me to a similar circumstance? I hoped it would be so, I prayed it would be so.<\/p>\n How about you? Does Esther\u2019s example stir in your heart a longing for her type of courage? Realize that her first response was not so courageous, but with words from her mentor and trust in God\u2019s providence, she resolved to do God\u2019s will. In the same way God can inspire you to live with such resolve.<\/p>\n Photo Credit: Unsplash\/Aaron Burden<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once Esther took to heart Mordecai\u2019s words of reason she realized her rise to royalty had nothing to do with her beauty or God granting her a comfortable life. Instinctively Esther knew to turn to God for her strength. She replied, \u201cGo, gather all the Jews\u2026and hold a fast on my behalf\u2026I and my young<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[45,2314,615],"class_list":{"0":"post-10663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christian-living","8":"tag-bible","9":"tag-esther","10":"tag-important"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}8. Esther waited on God\u2019s timing.<\/h2>\n
9. Esther loved her people more than her own life.<\/h2>\n